Since opening its doors to the public for the first time in 2007, Woei has left its mark on the international sneaker and streetwear community with several collaborations including Asics, Patta, and Stüssy along the way.
But the interests and passions of the Woei crew reach far beyond just shoes and apparel; Besides providing the streets with the latest from Nike, Adidas, and Co., music has always been at the heart of the store. Considering the highly curated playlists and mixes that can be heard in the store and hosting some of Rotterdam's most notorious parties, the belief that music unites is deeply ingrained in the Woei DNA.
Based on this deep connection, we want to shine a spotlight on some of our favorite local musicians to talk about what sparked their passion for music and hear their take on common dilemmas in the music industry.
For episode #41 of WOEI FM, we met with DJ Klapsalon.
Scroll down for the interview and live set he did for us over at Operator Radio!
Can you please introduce yourself?
DJ Klapsalon, I collect and play records.
Can you explain to me the origin of your DJ name and the backstory behind it?
At some point you have to have a DJ name. The kapsalon is representative of Rotterdam, how the dish came about is of course also a mixture of various ingredients from different regions across the globe. As are my DJ sets; full of tunes from everywhere. Plus, it's a bit juicy and nutritious for your soul.
When did you first came in contact with music and collecting in general and when did you realize besides collecting music it would’ve had such a big impact on your life?
My parents are melomaniacs. They both listened to a lot of music and there was always some music going on in the house. They didn't necessarily go very deep but had a lot of black music; Jazz, Soul, R'n'b, but also Pop music, etc.. My father often went more to the Bowie direction, Brian Eno, Steely Dan for example.
For me it started when I was about 7 years old my friend Willem gave me a tape, which turned out to be the first Thunderdome tape. He called it house music because back then you didn't call this kind of stuff gabber. So for my birthday that followed I asked from my aunt some House music, she got me my first "house" compilation from HEMA which was luckily also Gabber.
Later I moved to France (Ariege) and another friend Julian introduced me to IAM, French hip hop from Marseille, this was probably summer ’97. So from Gabber I went more in depth by listening to a lot of French and American rap. From Hip Hop music, video clips and events I noticed that the DJs often would also scratch and/or beat juggle, I thought that was so tight that I wanted to do that too. Not necessarily the mixing but the scratching. With 2 other friends we scrapped together some money and bought 1 dusty Stanton belt driven turntable and an old scruffy Gemini DJ mixer. Every few months, the DJ set up would go from one household to another.
Can you tell me a bit more about your time in France and the people/parties you connected with back in the days?
Around begin 00's there was this hip hop group called the TTC, it was the start for me and my friends to backpack rap. Later TTC and their DJ got a lot of music from the ghettos from the United Stated, UK, Brazil etc., things like Booty Bass, Grime, Baile Funk, Crunk, etc… It was when they did a concert of their 2nd album that I was blown off of my socks and interested again into dance music, thanks to the DJ who spinned all these mad unheard of tunes.
Me and my buddies were like: "We want more of that dopeness!" but nobody in our region (Toulouse) organized parties with these styles. That's when we decided to organize our own party. It was hard to find these genres where we lived, if we went to a local record shop dig a lot of this kind of music at our local shops often they did not understand what we were talking about or didn't understand why we were looking for it. For instance Booty Bass/Ghetto Tech was in the "Detroit House" bin at the record shop.
Besides DJing and pushing/flipping records, what’s your day-to-day life like?
I organize various music events with Low G Court or alone with Panoramique, also a market of Art/Craft/2nd hand items called Bazaar, Alles Verrassing! , I sell records at fairs under Ephemeris Records. From time to time I host radio shows such as Grand Hotel De L’univers at Operator Radio.
Rotterdam has a rich history when it comes to music and artists, when did your interest spark in this history? And why did you start collecting/selling these records?
Not only listening but obviously also collecting is part of my passion. It was thanks to Bart, a good friend of mine that infected me with the virus to go seek for records in the wild. He showed me mad stuff he would find in thrift shops and flea markets. That was an essential shift to how I approached record collecting. We are lucky that Rotterdam is one of the biggest ports and also that The Netherlands pressed a lot of records. Thus, the plethora of old music available in our country.
If I’m correct, back in the day when squatting was still legal you lived at some of these squatted places right? Could you maybe tell us a bit how those heydays were and what parties were there?
When I reverted to Rotterdam in 2008 I connected again with Willem, as good advisor he was for music he was as well a fantastic tipper for parties. He introduced me to the cats in the Slaakhuys. The Slaakhuys was back then a squat though now for a few years ironically a luxury hotel. I lived there for a few years, we did once or twice a year a big party in the basement. We would often hang out at the Water Front, there they had 2 areas of underground events. It was interesting cause often u had 2 different events from 2 different scenes under 1 roof, that made the place special.
Can you tell me something about your first gig, and how did you ended up playing there?
My first official gig in The Netherlands (not in the squat) was when Sil invited me to come DJ at an event of DAK (which was back then on a parking lot next to Mono). That evening there was also Patrick (Marsman) and Ruben (The Social Lover). This was about 12 years ago. It was around that time that I seriously got more involved into collecting records. Sil was back then working behind the counter of Clone Records, he noticed the records I would get from the store, we would chat about those records and more. Eventually, he asked me if I would be interested to come and DJ on the roof.
You and Doo Bop have been making quite a name for yourself with The Low G Court. Could you maybe explain a bit how this concept came together?
About 5 years ago I heard a radio show of Bob, I didn't know him back then, but I already knew we had to do bizniz together ! The intention to get together and perform was to offer the city more organic sounds to dance to with our records; music played and recorded by musicians. That's how Low G Court got into life.
How do you select your music for upcoming gigs/mixes/events?
Depends on what type of event it is, sometimes they will be precise about what they want to hear, and often they give me carte blanche. The public fancies most when I make an eclectic selection of sounds. I also try and keep track of what I played where in order to offer the people every time a new set.
Club nights or Festivals?
Festivals are usually not my glass of beer, I get overwhelmed by the amount of people and impressions. Small settings are closer to me, where everybody can connect better to each other and focus on the sounds. I fancy also playing listening sets at bars and restaurants, the right occasion to play the other records from my collection. At some restaurants or cafés, when the selection I pull is suiting so well as background music, i eventually blend in the decor of the venue and people mistake me sometimes for a piece of furniture.
Vinyl or Digital?
Vinyl, the only digital I do is uploads of records to my youtube channel.
Top parties of all time?
Too hard to say... A few years ago, Bob and I performed at this microfestival in the mountains of Austria. It was at the house of the parents of a friend. They had this sick dub soundsystem where one of the owners was tweaking on the sound console during our set. Public was extremely open to all the various sounds we had, it was sick.
Some years ago also at DAK but this time at Witte de Withstraat, during my DJ set I could sense the whole floor moving up and down, it was on the roof of a parking garage, it was wild.
Got numerous more, too many to name !
Is there something on the agenda you’re willing to share with us?
More than enough, the one I am really hammed about at the moment is the one at Cult=Us with legendary Darryn Jones. Save the date: 23 August 2024.
What can we expect from your Operator set?
It will be a set of old tunes either made and/or recorded in Rotterdam or of the ethnicities that live here.
Any last words for the readers?
Welcome to my world, hope u enjoy it !
